In a hospital or other care environment, such as a nursing or residential care home, there can be problems associated with moving patients who spend much or most of their time immobile on a bed. The same problem is experienced when transferring a patient to a trolley or gurney from their bed (or vice versa).
With larger or overweight patients, the risk of injury to the patient and/or the nurses/assistants is increased, and various techniques have been employed to ease the moving process. A particular technique which has been found to be effective involves the use of an inflatable mattress, which is positioned beneath the patient. The mattress is positioned in a deflated state beneath the top sheet of the bed before the patient is placed on the bed, or the patient may lie directly on the mattress.
When it is desired to move the patient, an air pump is connected to the mattress and it is inflated. The mattress is provided, on its underside, with a plurality of pin prick perforations, which allow the pressurised air to escape from the mattress, thus creating a cushion of air which allows the mattress plus patient to be slid more easily sideways (usually) from the bed onto an adjacent trolley or vice versa. However, known patient transport mattresses (hereafter PTMs) can be of rather complex construction and are, consequently, expensive. There therefore exists a desire to realise a simpler and cheaper alternative form of PTM.